Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies
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Who should you ask for a recommendation that will best help your job search efforts? That can be difficult to identify, at times, especially because online recommendations differ from written recommendations. Because online recommendations are much shorter than traditional ones and take much less time to write, employers expect you to have more of them.

Having more recommendations is a credibility builder, and it tells LinkedIn’s search algorithm that your profile is more important than other profiles, so it puts you on top of a search-results page.

But don’t just ask your best friends to write a recommendation. That will come off as obvious. Variety is key here, and those you’ve worked with in the past are the best because they can speak to your job performance. Be sure you have a nice mix of the following business relationships as recommenders:

  • Someone you reported to, such as a supervisor or boss

  • Someone senior but who you didn’t report to

  • A colleague you worked with in the same group

  • A colleague parallel in your organization but in a different group

  • A customer or client who you helped

  • Someone who worked for you or reported to you

About This Article

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About the book author:

Joshua Waldman, MBA, is an authority on leveraging social media to find employment. His writing has appeared in Forbes, Huffington Post, Mashable, and the International Business Times. Joshua's career blog, CareerEnlightenment.com, won the About.com Readers' Choice Award for Best Career Blog 2013. Joshua presents keynotes, trainings, and breakout sessions around the world for students, career advisors, and professional organizations.

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